A rousing adventure set in Roman occupied Britain, The Eagle also bears the hallmarks of a classic western.

There are shifting loyalties, a sense of honour and considerable antagonism between the indigenous tribes and the heavily armed settlers.

And yet this movie is an adaptation of a fondly remembered Rosemary Sutcliff book written over 50 years ago, a very British Boys’ Own Adventure that lit the childhood imaginations’ of those who made it.

The story of Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) embarking on a mission beyond the bounds of Hadrian’s Wall to the land of director Kevin Macdonald’s unconquered forebears, is vividly realised.

The Roman is driven by a quest to redeem his father’s tarnished reputation, and regain the missing golden Eagle standard that his Ninth Legion was thought to have lost 20 years ago.

He is accompanied by his slave Esca (Jamie Bell) and out of initial mistrust a bond of friendship is formed.

In such action packed movies it is standard practice to ask about injuries sustained in the course of filming, and Tatum’s ‘wound’ has been widely reported.

Wearing a wetsuit under his costume for scenes filmed in a freezing river, he was supposed to be helped between takes by warm water being poured into the wetsuit.

“Yeah, they were trying to keep us warm and this poor guy was running up and down a hill with the hot water,” says Florida born Tatum.

“On this particular day I met him halfway after shooting, and he didn’t dilute the boiling water with river water to just make it hot.

“And once they pour it down the top of the suit you pull it away from your body and it just keeps going lower. So I had no skin anywhere down there to speak of. But it didn’t even scar.”

Channing Tatum, an avowed fan of Twitter, was in too much distress to share photographic evidence with his followers. And it’s too late now, as he claims Bell has stolen the photo.

“Jamie and I got along so well right off the bat,” Tatum adds, “so we had to make sure we reminded ourselves of this tension from time to time because it has to stay pretty taut between Marcus and Esca.

“I mean, we never really laugh together in the film, but in reality we were laughing as soon as they yelled ‘cut’. It was sort of a crack-up the whole time.”

It makes perfect sense that the pair of them should get on so well, given they are of a similar age and background.

So while the relationship between the two men maintains the strong character-driven aspect of The Eagle, the sense of peril is never forgotten as the battles appear as real life and death affairs.

And that may be the greatest appeal for a film aiming to attract sophisticated modern audiences to a historically set tale of honour and friendship.